NSTA 2023 was held in Atlanta this year from March 22 through March 25. The NSF-supported Research Experience for Teachers across the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (RET NNCI) program includes member schools, Georgia Tech, Northwestern University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Minnesota. High school and community college teachers who participated in the Summer 2022 program attended the conference to meet with teachers and discuss the benefits of the RET experience and provide resources at the NNCI & NNCO booth. In addition to the booth this year, the teachers also submitted and had accepted a workshop proposal that they were able to directly present at the conference.
The Hands-On Workshop, “Teachers Can Bridge the Gap Between Real World Research and Classroom Curriculum” included 4 presentations with a hands-on component. The goal of the workshop was to highlight the emerging science of nanotechnology and how it can be used to increase student interest and engagement in the high school curriculum and STEM career paths.
The attending teachers were given the opportunity to do these small classroom demos, created by the RET teachers, and were provided links to the corresponding instructional materials for implementation in the classroom.
We are so excited to have had this opportunity and look forward to a fun and successful 2023 Summer RET program and NSTA-Denver in 2024!
For more information on the RET program, reach out to shyne@northwestern.edu!
